


adjustment

by fricklefracklefloof



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, No beta we kayak like Tim, Recovery, season 4, this fic is a whole lot of nothing i just wanted to write about them, this is melanie and georgie's safehouse period
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28154754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fricklefracklefloof/pseuds/fricklefracklefloof
Summary: "She’s almost a little scared by how quickly she accepts the domesticity of it all, but maybe deep down Melanie had secretly been yearning for this all along."Melanie adjusts to life without the Institute.
Relationships: Georgie Barker/Melanie King
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	adjustment

It doesn’t take long for Melanie to memorize the ins and outs of Georgie’s flat.

She adores the coziness of it, the way the walls hug her as she walks. It gives her the feeling of almost the opposite of claustrophobia, in a way. It’s nothing like the overwhelming spaciousness of the Institute, cold and nauseating in a way that used to invoke such rage in Melanie. Even the thought of its confusing hallways now makes her head hurt. She never wants to go back.

Sometimes as she’s navigating the flat Melanie feels something soft brush up against her ankle, purring and guiding her to her destination. Melanie doesn’t need it, but she always appreciates the Admiral’s presence.

The first few weeks after escaping the Institute, Melanie doesn’t leave the house. She’s not allowed to, as instructed by her doctor and also by Georgie, and for once, she doesn’t want to. The Melanie from a month ago would have gone insane with the monotony of it all, but the Melanie now is perfectly content with spending hours on the couch snuggling by Georgie’s side with a cat in her arms.

She’s almost a little scared by how quickly she accepts the domesticity of it all, but maybe deep down Melanie had secretly been yearning for this all along.

They listen to a lot of podcasts, and they order a lot of takeout. If Georgie is bored by being cooped up in the house all day with Melanie, she certainly doesn’t show it. Georgie makes Melanie try something new every night, and it’s always a surprise. It was a triumphant day for Georgie when Melanie decided that maybe she did, in fact, like Hungarian food.

Georgie is beautiful. Melanie of course remembers her face, but it’s other things, too, that make her girlfriend beautiful. It’s the sweet cadence of her voice that Melanie finds herself enraptured in, whether she’s prattling about supernatural occurrences in the Middle Ages or describing the meal she had at that date in more detail than the guy she was with. It’s soft kisses on Melanie’s face and the feeling of her hand in hers. And it's the constant reminders that she's there, the sound of her footsteps in the hall, the feeling of another body pressed next to hers in bed.

When Melanie finally lets herself think about it all again, when she finally lets herself open up, Georgie is there to listen. She always is. Georgie told herself a long time ago that she’d never let herself become involved with the Institute, but she never ignores what Melanie has to say about it. Melanie pours her heart out, all those feelings of pain and sick rage and humiliation, and Georgie is there to soothe it. She doesn’t make it all go away, but sometimes she tells Melanie about some stupid thing that Jon did at uni and then Melanie is laughing, laughing, and it all feels alright again.

She’ll never ignore all the horrible things those people—her _coworkers_ —did at the Institute. But she lets herself remember the good things about them, too, the things Melanie from months ago chose to forget. They were all wrapped up in this web together, and they coped with it in different ways. Melanie supposes she can’t blame them for continuing, for traumatizing others anyway, knowing that it’s wrong and knowing also that they can’t live without it, but Melanie is so grateful for the freedom that breaking away from the Institute has given her. Living in that disgusting Institute, knowing that every breath she took and every action she made fed that _thing,_ that Eye, felt violating. She couldn’t go on knowing that her existence was serving the _wrong thing._

Jon comes by their flat looking for guidance, and Georgie tries to shoo him away, and Melanie almost wants to, but when she looks inside herself that rage she felt towards him before has dimmed. Of course he literally feeds on other people’s trauma, she’ll never not know that, but Melanie is just tired. The anger is still there, a little flame burning low, but as long as Melanie can be just a friend to him she’s content to keep it from consuming her whole.

He was kind to her, in her final awful days at the Institute. Melanie doesn’t think she’ll ever forgive him, not for being a monster, not for being _stupid,_ and certainly not for the nonconsensual removal of that bullet from her leg, but she wouldn’t be here without him. He was the one who called the ambulance when Melanie gouged her eyes out.

When the bandages come off, and Melanie feels strong enough, she steps outside the house. Just small walks at first, and maybe little trips to the store, but it feels wonderful. Georgie is with her most of the time, not because Melanie can’t fend for herself (she has a cane, she can hear, she knows the neighborhood, she’ll live), but just because she enjoys the company. Melanie didn’t truly realize how lonely she was all those months ago until they started dating, until Georgie started accompanying her to therapy, until Melanie felt like she had something in this sick world that understood it all and could keep her sane.

Melanie doesn’t have to see to know that she sticks out in public, what with her face that went viral on the Internet and her cane and her dyed hair and her ghost podcast girlfriend. She can feel the stares. Some days, the Melanie whose trauma became a meme puts on sunglasses to ease the attention just a little bit. Other days, the Melanie who tells scared children she lost her eyes because she didn’t eat her vegetables just can’t bring herself to care and struts out with her scars anyway. It’s her body, and she won’t be made ashamed for it.

And so Melanie recovers. She adjusts.

Sometimes Georgie puts on her favorite song and suddenly Melanie’s hands are in hers. They dance drunkenly, but Georgie is the one who’s stumbling because Melanie has already memorized how the both of them move. They’re giggling like children, then laughing, and it’s like they can’t stop. Melanie has never laughed so much in her life before. There’s something so euphoric about being in love with Georgie Barker; Melanie didn’t realize such happiness was even possible.

Sometimes Melanie still gets so angry she wants to hurt someone. Sometimes she remembers how Elias Bouchard took her into his office and showed her what _really_ happened to her father, and she remembers the look on his face, like he had been a part of it somehow, like he _enjoyed_ seeing her suffer. He knew it would make her cooperate, and it did. Sometimes Melanie still wants to watch him die slowly.

Sometimes Georgie is complaining to Melanie about whatever awful sponsorship she got for the podcast, and they marvel over the sheer stupidity of it. A dating app that matches you with people based on your browser history? Well, as long as it keeps the roof over their heads. Melanie’s seen much worse.

Sometimes Melanie grieves, something that’s been hard for her to do in the past because she’s used to letting anger consume any hints of sorrow. She grieves for Tim, the man who was filled with just as much rage as she was, and who was always fighting for what he thought was right even as he faced his death. She grieves for Sasha, poor Sasha whom no one even noticed was gone until it was too late. She grieves for the people Jon and Daisy were before they became monsters. She grieves for all of them, dead or alive. Martin. Basira. She hated them, but she hopes they’ll be okay.

But Melanie won’t be helping them anymore, or she knows it will kill her. She’s done. Melanie won’t forget, and maybe she won’t even forgive. But for once, after everything, she’s finally found peace.

**Author's Note:**

> let it be known that the google doc for this was called "cries in gay"


End file.
